The Houston Texans beat the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 19-13 in a wildcard game to knock Cincinnati out of the playoffs for the second year in a row on Saturday.
Arian Foster rushed 32 yards to cover 140 yards and had one touchdown in his team's comprehensive victory over the opponents. Starting quarterback Matt Schaub had a great start, while J.J. Watt hit passes whenever the team needed them the most.
''The whole stadium knew we had to line up and run the ball and boy, he was at his best there at the end,'' The Associated Press quoted Houston coach Gary Kubiak as saying about Schaub. ''He's become a fine, fine player, and it just seems like the bigger it gets, the better Arian gets.''
The defense of Houston, who wasted a first-round bye opportunity by dropping three of their last four regular season games, did not allow the Bengals offense to run and hit passes freely.
"I watched us go through difficult times. It's been a gut check for this organization the past month," Kubiak further said. "I'm very proud of them."
The next game against the New England Patriots will be the acid test for the Texans, as they had thrashed the Patriots 42-14 earlier.
''It's one step,'' Watt said, of the win against the Bengals. ''We know what it means, and we have bigger goals than that.''
Watt expressed his pleasure on his team's performance against Cincinnati, but he emphasized the need to play even better against the Patriots.
''They know what they're doing in the playoffs,'' Watt added further. ''They've been here many times before. They know what it takes, so it's going to take everything we have and we're really excited about the challenge.''
The Texans started off well to take a 3-0 lead over the Bengals with 7:49 left in the first quarter, when Shayne Graham hit a 48-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Graham again kicked a (27-yard) field goal with 13:07 remaining, to extend Houston's lead to 6-0.
Cincinnati came from behind and took the leading position over the Texans 7-6 with the help of Leon Hall's touchdown, when he intercepted Schaub for 21 yards, and Josh Brown's point after touchdown, with 9.30 remaining.
Graham's 22-yard field goal with 2.19 remaining helped the Texans enter the second half with a 9-7 lead.
The Bengals did not lead at any point of time in the second half. Foster rushed to the left for a 1 yard gain against them and Graham had PAT to extend the Texans' lead to 10-7, with 10.31 remaining in the third quarter. Three minutes later, Brown hit a 34-yard field goal, to cut Houston's lead to 16-10.
Both the teams fought fiercely in the fourth quarter. First, Graham kicked his fourth (24-yard) field goal of the game to extend his team's lead to 19-10. Then, Brown hit a 47-yard field goal to cut the Texans' lead 13-19.
Foster, who played a crucial role in the Texans' victory, completed third playoff game with 100-yard, and he is the first NFL player to do so.
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